Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, Inc., recently told a Texas education conference that unions are one of the key factors holding back American education. A few of Jobs choicest statements to the crowd:

What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldnt get rid of people that they thought werent any good? ... Not really great ones because if youre really smart you go, I cant win.

I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way.

This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy.

Former Education Secretary Rod Paige, in praising Jobs statements, explains simply how all this happened:

In too many cases over the years, when school boards have found themselves unable to meet union demands for salary increases, they bought peace from the unions by granting them authority over certain aspects of school operations. Even worse, unions have enough money and clout in many parts of the country to subvert democracy and determine who gets elected to the school board. So when the union is negotiating a new contract and has friends on the school board, it is, in effect, sitting on both sides of the bargaining table.

After revolutionizing personal electronics twice in two decades, its apparent Jobs knows a thing or two about productivity and staying on the cutting edge.

Its also apparent that, if American unionized workforces are any indication, unionization is among the worst moves for companies that wish to remain nimble and efficient in the face of global competition. Its not been very good for our nations public-education system, either.

Sources:

An Apple for Steve Jobs by Rachel Cheney, Pacific Research Institute, March 1, 2007.

Three Cheers for Steve Jobs by Rod Paige, The Education Gadfly, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, March 8, 2007.

Apple CEO Jobs attacks teacher unions by April Castro, The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 16, 2007.